Santa Monica resident and realtor extraordinaire Winston Bernard Cenac Jr. passed away on January 22, 2024 at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California, aged 73.
Despite some significant health-related setbacks early in life, Cenac was blessed as a natural creative thinker, and he began his professional life with an early career in music working with the likes of Motown Records and then CBS Records before managing punk band The Ratz, later renamed The Knack. Cenac was also a screenwriter and novelist, but that was all before he founded Bulldog Realtors based first at 1501 Main Street then Abbot Kinney and finally back to the same Main Street site once again.
Born on December 23, 1950, on the Caribbean island of Aruba to Winston Sr. and Noreen, he contracted polio at a young age and as such was forced to endure numerous operations throughout his childhood. While that might have deterred any mere mortal, Cenac persevered and was driven to succeed and better himself as much as he possibly could. Though he never regained full mobility, he was averse to being perceived as disabled and was determined to rise above the stigma attached to his condition.
“He ran a very successful business and he was highly regarded not only by the community, but also by everyone who ever worked with him as a part of Bulldog Realtors,” his close friend and former business partner Golda Savage told the Daily Press.
Cenac’s family immigrated from the West Indies to Brooklyn, New York, eventually ending up in Battle Creek, Michigan, where his father worked as a physician. He attended Northwestern University and earned an applied baccalaureate degree in English at Stanford University.
While he left the music industry behind to pursue a different kind of career, he never lost interest and music remained an extremely important part of his life. His company, Bulldog Realtors remained successful in business for over 20 years and he personally sold or supervised the sale of properties in Santa Monica, Venice and Westside communities exceeding a total value of more than $3 billion.
Moreover, he mentored many developing agents who credit him for his financial support and willingness to share his time, knowledge and extensive personal experience.
“He did a lot of community outreach and educational things to the community to not only help them have an idea about how to sell their homes, but how to be able to purchase a home,” Savage said.
According to Savage, they met at a party at his ex-roommate’s house when she was 26. “I recognized him from working at Universal Pictures,” she said, where Cenac worked as a story analyst. “He would read all the scripts, write a synopsis and make recommendations to the producers in the studio regarding things that they thought were worthy to look deeper into and possibly develop,” Savage said.
Cenac’s impressive entertainment industry career also included time spent at Disney, Hollywood Pictures and even for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Savage herself was an assistant editor and worked on the movie The Woman in Red the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Files-spin-off The Lone Gunman to name just a few.
However, she found the draw of Cenac’s passion for the real estate market too much to resist and joined him at Bulldog not long after it was established.
“We quickly found we were both interested in houses, interior design and things like that,” she said. “So, to relax, we would often just go and look around open houses for fun. Then eventually he went to UCLA and got his broker’s license and then started selling properties out of his own house initially.”
Cenac will be remembered for his quick wit, booming voice and hearty laugh. He was an avid reader and enjoyed writing, music and swimming. He is survived by extended family in California, Florida, Virginia, Santa Barbara and Wisconsin.
He is preceded in death by his parents and sister, Jacci Cenacveira. In lieu of flowers and such like, Savage asks that instead please donate any money to the Polio Fund, an initiative of Rotary International to end polio worldwide.
